Release documents on bus branding deal – Court orders AG

A Human Rights Court in Accra has ordered the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, to make available all documents on the bus re-branding contract to lawyers of the seven individuals, who demanded same of the Minister at the court.

The seven went to court last year when news of the fraudulent contract broke. They requested the court to instruct the Minister of Transport to fully disclose the content of the contract for the over-bloated contract executed by Smarttys.

Per the court’s directive, the AG, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, must answer the questions filed by the applicants within 14 days of service of the entry of judgment.

The court stated that the private citizens do not need the backing of the Right To Information Act to enjoy the right to information of public interest.

The ruling follows a preliminary objection raised by the AG on the grounds of lack of personal interest.

The seven applicants; Lolan Ekow Sagoe-Moses, Kathleen Addy, Francis Kennedy Ocloo, Evans Amegashie, Yaw Baffour Ankomah, Kwame Barkers Ansah and Michael Annor, filed the suit last year praying the court in the exercise of their constitutional right to information, to order the Minister of Transport to provide answers to certain pertinent questions concerning the award of the contract for the branding of the 116 BRT buses.

Some of the issues the applicants raised included whether or not the award of the contract was done in adherence to the Public Procurement Act; whether or not the contract procurement was competitive or sole sourced and whether or not there were other alternatives to the contract.

Smarttys overpriced a bus re-branding contract

Late last year, an official investigation into the bus branding scandal by the Attorney-General’s Department, found that Ghanaian firm Smarttys over-billed the state by more than Ghc1.5 million in a Ghc3.6 million contract to re-brand 116 Metro Mass Transit buses.

Following intense public pressure, the Presidency ordered the company to cough up the excess funds it unjustly took from the state.

Government claims that some refund has been made, although Smarttys still owes the state. The branding of the new Huanghai buses for the MMT with portraits of President John Mahama and past presidents caused public outcry, resulting in the resignation of the Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Ativor, in December.

But for reasons best known to government, the full details of the report into the scandal was not made available to Ghanaians. But a copy of the report, which was available to the media, clearly established wrongdoing in the award of the contract.

Smarttys is owned by Ghanaian actress and TV Host, Selassie Ibrahim.

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